Baby’s First Poetry

Content: Robert Frost

Introduction: I love Robert Frost. He is not from New Hampshire, but he is of New Hampshire. Had he written in a 24-hour news world, he would be to the Granite State what Ben and Jerry are to the Green Mountain State. For example, his poem New Hampshire is a both a rambling rumination on frugal bucolic living and a parody of New Hampshire’s flinty reputation.

Dream’s Age at Introduction: Pre-natal

Reason for That Age: Alicia and I have made a big deal about reading to Dream right away. Basically, as soon as all the books said the baby could hear, we started reading to her stomach. And the first thing we read to Dream was The Last Word of a Bluebird by Frost. If Mozart and Beethoven are good in utero, I don’t see why Robert Frost isn’t as well.

What I Want Dream to Get Out of It: My expectations are pretty low. Let’s be honest, parents read to their kids pre-natally more for themselves than for their kids. Alicia and I are the same way. But I guess I’d like Dream – at some point, in the somewhat distant future – to read Frost’s poetry and connect to it in a way that he or she doesn’t understand, or even think to understand. It’ll be just another part of Dream’s subconscious.

Be content,
John